Tunisia coach optimistic about clinching last Africa ticket to Men's World Championship

Coaches of teams taking part in the Pool V African qualifier for the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014

Tunis, Tunisia, March 3, 2014 - The coaches of the teams
taking part in the Pool V qualification tournament for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s
World Championship Poland 2014 in Tunisia have expressed their qualification
hopes.

The coaches were speaking on the first day of the tournament scheduled
to take place at the Palais des Sport Hall in Tunis, Tunisia from March 3 to 7,
2014.

Tunisian coach Fathy Mkaouer mentioned that his team
is a big favourite, but the players should do their utmost during the matches.
He also pointed out that his players are now ready to compete for the first
position after the long preparations for the prestigious event. We prepared
locally for this tournament because the players were busy with their clubs in
the Arab club championship which finished last week.

Seychelles coach Ally Francois said that the team is
ready to compete after their preparations for two weeks in Mauritius. "We
played 6 matches there among them three with the Mauritian team before coming
back home for two more weeks of preparations. We are coming here to show good
volleyball and qualify among the more experienced teams.”

Senegal coach Assane Diallo confirmed that they had
only local preparations in their country for three months. "We couldn't
play international matches and only friendly matches with clubs in Dakar were
played. We need to concentrate to beat those strong teams here. We know
qualification won’t be easy but we will do our best."

Niger head coach Douka Aboubacar said that the 10 days
they stayed in Algeria on their way to the qualification tournament benefitted
the team a great deal especially as they played against several Algerian clubs.
"Now we are ready to compete. We know it is difficult to beat those big
teams especially Tunisia between their spectators, but we will use the
experience we gained from the participation in Zone 3 competition in Cote
d'Ivoire.”

Congo Brazzaville coach Vingha Charlemagne said that
his team had outside preparations in Cameroon and DR Congo, where they played a
lot of matches against the clubs there. "We had a weak local league, but
my players worked hard during the friendly matches and now we are able to
compete for the last World championship slot. We can do it."

The winner of the round robin tournament will earn the
third African ticket to the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014
scheduled to take place from August 30 to September 21.